When Will Accounts Fall Off Of My Credit Report?

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READER QUESTION

I have 2 credit card accounts that were opened in 1999 and 2000. Isn't it supposed to drop off my credit report?

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Bills.com Resident Expert
Dec 12, 2011
HIGHLIGHTS
  • Review provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
  • Understand that derogatory account information eventually falls off your credit report.
  • Contact the credit bureaus to dispute any inaccurate information on your credit report.
BILL'S ANSWER

Federal law (US Code Title 15, §1681c) controls the behavior of credit reporting agencies. This law is known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Under FCRA §605 (a) and (b), an account in collection will appear on a consumer's credit report for 7.5 years. The clock starts approximately 180 days after the date of first delinquency on the account. To learn when an account will be removed by the credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian and others), add 7.5 years to the date of first delinquency. Subsequent activity, such as resolving the debt, is irrelevant to the seven-year rule. However, if the debt is a tax lien, that can appear for seven years from the date of payment. A bankruptcy will appear for ten years from the date of the final order. Delinquent federal student loans can be reported indefinitely, i.e., for as long as they are delinquent.

The rules dictating when listings must be removed from your credit report apply only to derogatory items; positive credit items, such as credit card debts which you have kept current, can remain on your credit reports indefinitely. For derogatory items, the date on which an account falls off of your credit report is calculated, customarily, as seven years from the date the debt was charged-off by the lender. The FCRA states the significant date is the date of first delinquency. The date you opened the account is irrelevant. For example, if you opened an account in 1985, and stopped making payments in 2003, then the account should fall off your credit report sometime in 2010.

The new "reported date" should not affect the date on which the account will be removed from your credit report. Again, the seven year time period runs from the date of first delinquency. If you think that any item is appearing on your credit report incorrectly, you should consider disputing the items with the major credit reporting agencies. You can read more about how to dispute inaccurate credit report items by visiting FTC.gov.

To learn more about credit, credit reports, and credit scoring, I invite you to visit the Bills.com Credit Information page.

I wish you the best of luck in your efforts to repair your credit report, and hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.

Best,

Bill

bills.com

Comments (6)


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Jamie B.
Larose, LA  |  January 24, 2011
I have accounts that were closed 7 years ago, some over, however, the collection company keeps updating them and they are remaining, any ideas on how to get them to drop off my reports?
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Bills.com
January 25, 2011
Section 605(a)(4) of the FCRA, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, provides that the credit reporting agency — such as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — may report a charge-off or other derogatory for seven years. Under § 605(c)(1), the seven year period begins 180 days from the "the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded" the charge-off. In other words, the derogatory entry must be removed from the consumer's credit report seven years plus 180 days from the date of first delinquency. Unfortunately, it is common for ill-advised, careless, or unscrupulous collection agents to misreport the date of first delinquency on a debtor's account. We can infer they do so to keep the debt appearing on the consumer's credit report in an attempt to pressure the consumer to resolve the debt. Violations of this provision of the FCRA may result in civil penalties of $2,500 per violation. One violator paid penalties of $1.5 million for misreporting delinquency dates.

What can a consumer do if a collection agent or original creditor misreports a date of first delinquency? See the Bills.com article Re-Aging Debt to learn more.
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Leah M.
Honolulu, HI  |  January 20, 2011
If I have reached the 7 year mark, do I have to do anything for the charges to be removed from my credit report? Thank you!
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Bills.com
January 20, 2011
Negative account information should drop off your report without you having to do anything, once 7.5 years have passed since the time of your delinquency. If the information continues to appear on your report after the 7.5 years, you can take steps to have it removed. If you think that any item is appearing on your credit report incorrectly, you should consider disputing the items with the major credit reporting agencies. You can read more about how to dispute inaccurate credit report items by visiting FTC.gov.
Avatar
Bills.com
July 24, 2009
That is subject to many variables, not just credit score (loan to value, debt to income, etc.) I can tell you that anything is on your credit report for 7 years and a bankruptcy can be on there up to 10 years.
Avatar
HEIDI S.
July 24, 2009
i UNFORTUNATELY HAD TO GO ON TO A TRUST DEED LAST YEAR(2008) WHEN WILL i BE ABLE TO OBTAIN A MORTGAGE OR CREDIT AGAIN AFTER i FINSH MY TRUST DEED?
Thanks for your feedback!

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